To Live the Dream
by Cormak3032
Summary: Samantha once sent her cousin to the Labyrinth and faced the fury of the Goblin King. 7 years later she believes the expericence to be a dream, until she gets a visitor who changes her mind and her world. CH 11 is up!
1. Dream or reality?

To live the Dream  
Written by Corrie McDermott  
January 2002  
  
Disclaimer: The Labyrinth and the original characters from the movie do not belong to me but to Jim Henson Productions. Any other characters are of my creation.  
  
Author's Note: This is my first ever Labyrinth story so please go easy on me! I love all the J/S stories out there and as much as I wanted to write my very own version, I had difficulty coming up with something original and exciting. So I've decided to create my own character, Samantha with her own story and life. She, like Sarah called upon the Goblin King to take a baby from her care when she was younger. If you want to find out more, then please read below.  
  
* * * *  
  
Her long hair moved over her shoulders like fine dark silk. Her blue-green eyes glittered in the warm afternoon sun and her smile and laughter was as devastating and as magical as the first time he laid his eyes upon her. She was older now; a beautiful young woman in her prime of life, and she still had that fire in her eyes as she had in her youth. The fire and desire to succeed on her own which made her a formidable match for himself. She was a challenge he gleefully wished to test again despite what had happened at their last encounter. He would not underestimate her a second time.   
  
"C'mon Sam!"   
  
Samantha McGoff grinned at her 7 year-old cousin Josh. He was crouched down, bat in hand, anticipating her pitch. She laughed at his enthusiasm. "You're sure you're not ready to call it quits yet?"  
  
"Are you kidding? We've just started!" Laughing she nodded and teased him by tossing the baseball to herself. Then growing serious she got into the perfect pitcher stance and fired. The ball rocketed towards him but at the last second Josh fell back into the soft grass. The bat went flying from his hands and he laughed. Sam rushed to him and helped him up.   
  
"Sorry, bud. I forget my own strength sometimes." She playfully rubbed his dark hair with her hand. "Why don't you go on inside and jump in the shower. Your mom and dad will be coming to pick you up soon." He was about to make a protest but she gave him a stare and he complied. She picked up the fallen bat and the baseball, which lay near an oak tree, yards away. She tossed the ball and when she caught it in her hand it wasn't a baseball, but a perfect crystal. Where had she seen a crystal like that before? She looked up quickly scanning the yard. No..it couldn't be not after all these years. After finding nothing out of the ordinary, she looked down into her hand. She blinked. There was no crystal but a beat up yellowed baseball. "I must be a little more tired then I originally thought." She chuckled and she walked into the house.   
  
After Josh had finished his shower, she made him a quick supper and put on his favorite television program so that she could take a shower herself. The hot water energized her. As she was about to turn the water off, she heard a voice, echoing in her mind.   
  
*How you turn my world you precious thing...*  
  
"What in the..?" She started. She put her face under the hot steamy water and the words faded rapidly, filled instead by the thundering sound of the water crashing over her. Satisfied that whatever it was had passed she turned off the water and wrapping a towel around her, stepped out of the shower. She dressed quickly, towel dried her hair and began to comb it in front of the mirror.   
  
*Your eyes can be so cruel... *  
  
That damned voice again! Who was it? Why did it seem so familiar to her yet unfamiliar? She sighed and returned to the task of combing her hair out. After Josh left, she was going to bed! She had seen and heard enough weird things for the day.   
  
Less then an hour later she was standing outside with Josh as his parents pulled up in their gray sedan. "Sam, please can't I stay another night?"  
  
She looked down at her young cousin, sympathizing. She grew up in the same household that he had. Of course she was on her own now, but she knew what he went though. Parents that had no time for him, because they busied themselves with their careers. Josh had to keep himself busy in his own way just as she once had. "You know I'd let you stay another night. I'd let you stay forever if I could."  
  
Josh pouted despite her words. "I know." He said kicking at a pebble near his foot.   
  
"C'mon Josh, we don't have all night!" came his father's strict voice.   
  
"Behave yourself and maybe I can convince them to let you come over next weekend."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"You bet." She crouched down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He hugged her tightly and then grabbing his backpack walked slowly to the sedan. She watched him get into the car. She knew all the emotions that he was feeling right now. She had been there herself. Her parents had died when she was only 6 years old and she had gone to live with her aunt and uncle. They never attempted to fill the void she felt. She knew they would never be her parents, but they could have acted better then they had. She had grown up feeling unwanted at times and she often dreamed of being elsewhere. She thrived on books based on fantasy and non-fiction. They managed to fill a piece of the void her aunt and uncle had not filled. She believed the only reason she had turned out to be a decent person was her cousin Josh. At first she hated him. All the attention he received from his parents as a baby. Attention she had not received when she was hurting and devastated from the loss of her parents. She dreamt one night of sending him off to the Goblin King, but in the dream something had happened and she realized that she needed her cousin back. The dream helped her come closer to Josh and eventually as he grew older they formed a brother and sister relationship. The affection and attention he received as a baby faded quickly as his parents realized Samantha could take care of him and soon she and Josh had much in common. She was off on her own now. An adult with her very own house. The place she always dreamed of living in. She smiled to herself and let the memories of the past fade from her mind. She waved as the sedan pulled away. A thank you would have been nice. She thought of her aunt and uncle taking advantage of her. But of course thank you was a phrase that they had erased from their vocabulary long ago. She sighed. "I wish that things could be different." She said turning to walk back to the house.   
  
"Oh so do I. How is young Joshua these days?"  
  
She stopped dead in her path at the sound of that voice. She didn't turn, but instead rubbed her temples. "I must be insane. I keep hearing things." She started back when that voice again rung in her ears.   
  
"Your aunt and uncle are not the only ones being rude. And ignoring me isn't going to make me go away." The voice was cold and emotionless.  
  
She spun on her heel and gasped at what she saw. She rubbed at her eyes. "Ok, I'm definitely going insane."  
  
He chuckled coldly at her words. "Now you understand what I have felt these last few years, while you've been gone."  
  
This time she chuckled. "Wow I haven't had a dream like this since I was 13. I haven't even read the Labyrinth in like 5 years." She laughed again. "First I thought I saw that crystal, then the voice, and now I'm seeing Jareth, King of the Goblins in front of me. This might be better then the dreams I had as a kid. Ok I really need to wake up now. I told myself long ago I needed to get over fantasizing and get on with real life."  
  
"Do not mock me Samantha." His voice sounded so real, that she shivered. " And do not dismiss me so quickly." She blinked and suddenly wondered if that dream she remembered so vividly from her childhood, was really a dream. "It wasn't a dream." His voice told her. Anger ever apparent in his tone. It felt like he was reading her thoughts. This had to be a dream, but what made her think about the Labyrinth? Why now? It had been a long time since she fantasized about that realm, along with the Goblin King.  
  
"Jareth, you mock me by being in my dreams. Go back to your Labyrinth and pretend to be important. Go and make some little kid feel special because they beat your games." She turned without a further word and started for the house.   
  
A sudden hand on her shoulder stopped her from moving any further and for a second she felt fear course her veins. The hand drifted across her shoulder to the other and a black gloved hand touched her face. Her eyes widened as Jareth stood in front of her. "Really, Samantha. I was hoping that you had grown out of that attitude of yours. I'm sorely disappointed to see that is not the case. However, -" He stopped to touch her hair and let it slide through his gloved fingers. "-it can be overlooked, seeing as it has been a long time since we last saw each other." She stood perfectly still, watching him revel in the feeling of touching her hair. She finally pulled back and a frown appeared on his pale face.   
  
"It wasn't a dream, dear girl. I do wish you would stop acting like it was. And it's not a dream now." So she had gone to Labyrinth when she was 13 years old. She had gone and saved her then baby cousin Josh from the Goblin King. She stepped back suddenly frightened as images entered her mind. Jareth was exactly as she remembered him. He still commanded dominance and power in his presence. He had that smug, look on his face. A face with pale, glittery skin that looked as smooth as fine porcelain. His blond hair was still wild and spiky, short at the top, strands dangling in his face as the rest flowed gracefully down his shoulders. One brow arched higher then the other as he studied her. His eyes, one brown, one crystal blue, were the window into his soul, although he would never admit it. In their depths she saw his desire, his arrogance, his fear, his anger and him trying to hide the boyish joy he felt at seeing her again. He still wore the strangely tailored leather jacket. Beneath it, a silky white shirt with his bare chest showing through the low neckline and that silver talisman dangling over his pale skin. The skintight gray pants that left almost nothing to the imagination of what they concealed beneath. And finally knee high black boots with a slight heel. "Is everything to your satisfaction, love?" His voice startled and broke her out of her examination of him.   
  
She hastily pushed him away from her. "Don't call me that. I meant what I said, Jareth. Go back to your Labyrinth. I'm not 13 years old anymore. You had no power over me then and you have even less over me now."  
  
He stepped forward, so close she could feel his breath on her face. "Well I don't know about that." His eyes were full of amusement. "I was very pleased with the reaction I just had on you and I didn't have to utter a word or a touch to get it."  
  
She blushed despite herself. "What are you doing here Jareth?" she asked changing the subject. She didn't like the way he was staring at her. It was disconcerting. "I didn't call on you. I have no baby for you to take and hide in your castle."  
  
"Oh I'm not here for a baby." He giving her a quick look over with his eyes.  
  
"Oh really? Gave up that old routine? What's the matter, lost too many times?"  
  
"My interests are all the same, dear girl. You just never took the time to realize that. Oh I'm definitely not here for a baby." He repeated again. " I'm here for you." His tone was serious as his eyes locked with hers.  
  
She tried very hard not to let the surprise she felt escape for him to see. "Let's just make some sense here." She said ignoring his comment at first. "You take babies when little girls wish you to. You hide them in your castle and they have to make it through your Labyrinth to get them back. I'm 20 years old. I'm not 13 anymore. Unlike you I've aged in the past 7 years and I don't play foolish games anymore."  
  
"What a pity. Has it been that long already? You've aged well in those years. Very well." It was his turn to give her a thorough examination with his eyes. She had let her brown hair grow longer and with time it had lost it's straight appearance and spiraled in curls down her back. Her blue green eyes, sparkled with youth despite her growing older. She had filled out and was not the tall lanky teenager he remembered her as being. She had a slender, but not too slender hour-glass figure. She wore a tank top, that exposed her arms and she wore cotton shorts that allowed him to gaze at her long golden legs. She quite nearly took his breath away. She was more beautiful in person then she was through his damned crystal spheres.   
  
Through squinted eyes she stared at him. "What could you possibly want with me?" His gaze told her exactly what he wanted with her and she swallowed, wishing she could take back that question.   
  
"I ask again, what I once asked you long ago. I'm counting on a better reaction this time.."  
  
"What's to say my reaction wont' be the same?"  
  
He ignored the snide remark and continued with what he wanted to tell her. "Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave. Don't you want to live your dreams?"  
  
Laughter erupted from her and she had to hold onto the porch railing to keep from falling on the ground. She missed the look of hurt that flashed across his strangely handsome features. It was quickly replaced with an honest, real anger. He cursed himself for not expecting this from her. He didn't reply with words but with action. A crystal ball appeared in his hand and he grabbed her wrist pulling her to him. Her laughter died as she realized that they were not in front of her house any longer.   
  
* * * * *  
  
  
She's not in Kansas anymore folks. Sorry that was really cheesy but I had to throw it in. Like what you read? Please review if you do and if I have an audience I'll start working on the next chapter. Not that I won't work on it for myself. :) 


	2. Breaking the Rules

Here is Chapter 2. Please keep those reviews coming.   
  
Disclaimers can be found in chapter one.  
  
Chapter 2: Breaking the Rules  
  
  
She felt as if she was flying. The sensation was incredible but it didn't last long enough for her to savor it. Her environment materialized around her. She searched with her eyes, realizing that she was definitely not in front of her house. She felt slightly disoriented. What had happened? Her aunt and uncle had come to pick up Josh and then...Jareth! She suddenly was very aware of someone holding onto her wrist and glancing up she gave the King of the Goblins a stare that rivaled one of his own.   
  
"Let go of me!" She cried pulling her arm away from him. He raised a brow as she backed away. "What the hell do you think that you're doing?" Silence. It only fueled her anger further. "Damn you Jareth."  
  
"Ooh why so much anger?" He chided.   
  
"I don't approve of being abducted from my home lightly. Why did you bring me here?" she asked gesturing to her surroundings. * Why did he bring me back to the Labyrinth! * They were standing on a hill that overlooked the castle. It was much closer to the castle then the one she first started her journey from. "Besides, you're breaking the rules. I didn't summon you."  
  
"I make the rules dear girl. Perhaps some of the rules and happenings of my realm appear in your book, but some things are very different. I thought you would have noticed that from your first trip here." He watched her run a hand through her hair in anger and desperation and he couldn't help but smile. She had not changed a bit.   
  
"Take me home right now." No response. "Please? Damn it Jareth, I'm a little old for your games."  
  
"Oh come now, we're never too old for games. What has happened to you Samantha? What happened to the carefree young girl with a thirst for adventure? Ah, I see now. You've let your retched aunt and uncle take your dreams from you. Such a pity."  
  
"How dare you. You don't even know me." She spit at him. An old fire was burning in her eyes and despite himself he grinned.   
  
He stepped closer to her. His face slightly higher then hers do to this height, and his proximity to her was unnerving. "I know you better then you think." He pulled back, twisting a black cape out of his way. She noticed suddenly that he was dressed a little different. His jacket had changed from black to brown and this one had a belt, which closed the front. The shirt he now wore, still white had a higher neckline and hid the talisman from her view. "I have a proposition."  
  
"I'm NOT interested." She crossed her arms over her chest for emphasis.   
  
"Oh but I know that you are. This act of yours may work for your friends and family but it doesn't work with me. You're just itching to know why I've brought you here." He stared intently at her and she lowered her eyes to the ground. "Aren't you?"  
  
"Yes." She said softly. *Ugh, I hate giving him any notion that he has the upper hand. *  
  
"I thought as much." He made a motion with his gloved hands and produced a crystal sphere. "I apparently underestimated you last time we met. You were the first to ever defeat my Labyrinth without the aid of its inhabitants." There was something underlying in his tone.   
  
'Wait, you're still angry that I beat you. That's what this is all about. This is no doubt some form of revenge that you're trying to make against me."  
  
"I'm long past all that, Samantha. Besides, revenge isn't my style." *If you only knew... *  
  
She chuckled at this. "Isn't your style? You're the Goblin King, the dark lord of this land. Revenge is exactly your style. You're cruel, uncaring and obviously still angry that you got bested by a little girl. What a pity." She said mocking him.  
  
"You think that you know so much, yet you know so little."  
  
"Yeah that's the pot calling the kettle black. You who thinks he knows everything and he can't even stop children from defeating him. How's that for brain power?"  
  
"You know nothing about me." He said in a warning tone.  
  
'I know enough. Besides, if you know so much about me why don't you share with me some of your knowledge." * This is going to be good. *   
  
"I don't think you want me to start sharing what I know." *It might frighten you. *  
  
"Oh why is that? Because you know nothing?"  
  
"Nothing, eh?" She watched his eyes suddenly become dark. " Tell Mark that he had better keep his hands to himself the next time he thinks about hitting you. The scar above his eyes while be the very least of his troubles." Jareth began to fade from view, but had enough time to watch her eyes widen with what he had said. * That was low, even for you Jareth. *   
  
"How did you know that? Jareth?" It was no use. He was gone and she was talking to thin air. How did he know about the fight? What else did he know about? Had he been spying on her the years after she had defeated him? The thought of Mark suddenly made her feel insecure, unsure of herself and utterly vulnerable. * Damn you Jareth. * He always made his exit when he felt in charge.  
  
He had left her on top of the hill with no proposition, no sense of direction and a feeling of vulnerability. She began to walk down towards the Labyrinth and as she walked to the tall stone walls, she realized that something bothered her. Not only had Jareth been spying on her, invading her privacy and her life, he had sounded very bitter about Mark. Jealousy or had he been concerned about her safety? If he knew about the fight where Mark got his scar, did he know about all the other times Mark had hurt her? She shook her head of the thoughts. She decided that she would venture to the castle and she would face Jareth. She would beat him at his own game as she had so many years ago. Even if he had been concerned for her, she was angry that he had been spying on her. She was angry that he had brought her here and she was angry for the way she felt when she was in his presence. "I will not go down that road again." She told herself aloud.  
  
As she stopped in front of the wall, she noticed no door what so ever. 'If you can't go through, you can go over." She said glancing at a tall tree near the wall. She climbed it with some difficulty as it had been a long time since she had climbed a tree. She managed to do it and set herself down on top of the stone wall. "How to get down." The drop to the bottom of the wall had to be about twenty feet. Maybe going over was a bad idea. She turned back to the tree with plans to climb back down it, but it was suddenly, gone? "It was right there a second ago!" After letting her anger settle she noticed that from the top of the wall she could see the way to the castle. She could spot the dead ends, and the paths that would lead her directly to castle. She looked around. If only she had some paper to make a map. Looking down she noticed that there was a loose flat rock in the wall that resembled a piece of slate. She picked it up into her hands and cleaned any dirt from it. Taking a smaller rock she began to scrap a crude map into the rock. After it was finished, she realized that she still had no way to get down. Further down the wall she saw vines growing from within the rocks. She grinned to herself. "I'll get there much faster then 13 hours. In fact, I'll beat my own record of 11 hours. I'll let Jareth just deal with that one." Satisfied with herself she climbed down the vine and began her journey.   
  
In a window of the castle, Jareth held a crystal sphere in his hand and smiled wickedly.   
  
At first her map seemed to work perfectly. Then walls appeared where they should not have been. It was growing darker and soon it would be night. How would she navigate in the dark and with a defective map? If she could scale to the top of another wall she would be able to see if it was truly the Labyrinth that had changed it's shape or if she had drawn the map wrong. There were no trees or vines to be seen. It was growing darker and she needed a place to spend the night. She had never spent a night in the Labyrinth before. It had been daylight the entire time she was here last. She found a dead end with a bench and settled on it realizing that she was exhausted. She had been tired to begin with and dealing with Jareth had tired her out even more. The air had grown colder and she curled herself up on the cold stone bench. It had grown dark quickly. Strange stars twinkled in the night sky above her and the sounds in the Labyrinth frightened her. She shivered, but somehow managed to fall asleep. She awakened not much later, shivering uncontrollably. She was only wearing a tank top and shorts and the air had grown so cold.   
  
"He's probably sitting by a nice warm fire while I'm out here freezing my ass off. That's ok. I'm going to beat him no matter what, even if it takes my last breath."   
  
"They'll be no need for that. I couldn't live with myself if you perished in my Labyrinth. Especially since it was never my intention to have you walk through it again."  
  
She bolted upright. In the darkness she couldn't see anything. "Jareth?" *What had he meant about not wanting her walk the labyrinth again? * He gave her no reply and for a second she panicked. It was so dark and the strange sounds she had heard seemed to grow closer.  
  
Something grabbed her arm and she panicked. What if that wasn't Jareth? What if something had else had found her? She struggled but began to feel woozy and disoriented and closed her eyes. When she opened them again she found herself standing in a large room. There was a bed, made of what looked like old oak. It was covered with soft looking silks and pillows. She could see the Labyrinth stretched for miles outside an open window. She spun around. She was in the castle and Jareth was no where to be seen. *Why did he bring me here? *  
  
She stood waiting for him to make an appearance but as it grew later it became obvious that he wasn't going to make one. She glanced at the bed. It looked so comfortable and she was so tired. *No! I won't sleep in it. I won't play his games! * Instead she took a seat in the large window will and gazed out across the Labyrinth. Her eyes grew heavy and she tried to fight sleep but it was no use. In minutes she was sleeping uncomfortably against the stone window frame. The sound of soft footsteps clicked across the cold stone floor. Jareth took one look at her sitting in the window asleep and frowned.   
  
"When will you stop being so damned stubborn?" He asked quietly. With a wave of one gloved hand, she was now laying beneath the silk bed covers. With a second wave toward the fireplace in the corner, a fire began to roar up the chimney. A little more satisfied, the Goblin King left the room 


	3. Rememberance

I'm going to town on my story here. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I really hate rushing stories. Going to slow down with a little background for Samantha. More of her background will be included in future chapters. Enjoy.  
  
The disclaimers are still in chapter one.  
  
Chapter 3:Remembrance  
  
  
"Oh Josh, you spoiled little brat! Why won't you stop crying! You've been fed, changed and you have your stupid bear that your parents bought you." Samantha flicked back her long dark straight hair in annoyance. She hated having to take care of her baby cousin Josh. Why did her aunt and uncle hate her so? They never took her out to the movies, or the mall to buy clothes. They had severely limited her phone time due to finding a sketchbook full of drawings of unicorns, castles and fairies. If they had found her copy of the Labyrinth, they surely would have locked her in the cellar with no supper.   
  
"You're not a child Samantha. You should be concentrating on your school work, not sketching fictitious characters. You'll never become anything in life." She mimicked her aunt. "They don't even care about me. All they care about is their son Joshua and their stupid jobs." She plopped herself down hard in the window seat crossing her arms over her chest. All her friends had parents that took them out to the mall, or the movies. They could play board games and dress up to play act. What could she do? "We're going out tonight Samantha. We expect you to take good care of Joshua. And remember NO Television and no phone calls." Her uncle had told her. What did they expect her to do? Just stare at the 4 walls of their bedroom as Joshua screamed his head off?! Then a thought dawned on her. If she couldn't watch TV or talk on the phone and had to be in the room with Josh she could act out some scenes from the Labyrinth! "Yes!" She cried with the first happiness she felt all day. She rushed to her bedroom and pulled out her Labyrinth book from under her box spring mattress. Josh watched her with curiosity and stopped his crying for a moment as she sat in the window seat opening her book. "Would you like me to read you a story Josh?" Through teary eyes he watched her as she began to read.   
  
She read the first chapter. The story of a young girl, a maiden forced to baby sit a retched child that wouldn't stop crying. As she read how the girl summoned the King of the Goblins to take the child she realized that Josh had stopped crying. Looking up she didn't see him peering through the bars of the crib. "Josh?" she asked with sudden concern. She slowly walked to the side of the crib and peering in cried out in horror as she realized that he was not in the crib. "Josh! They're going to kill me!" Her aunt and uncle prized Joshua and she had let him out of her sight just long enough for him to disappear. "Josh, where are you?" She gazed around, knowing that a toddler couldn't have gotten far. The room suddenly became cold and a shadow of a figure suddenly bathed her in darkness. * Oh no! They're home! They must have forgotten something! * "Uncle John, I.." But when she turned it was not her uncle who stood before her, but a strange man dressed in a black coat with a cape. His hair was blond and spiky and it swirled around his face in the cold air that flowed in through the open window behind him. "Who.. who are you?" She swallowed the lump in her throat. He looked like pure evil.   
  
"You know very well who I am Samantha." All she could do was stare at him. He had eyes that were two different colors. *Like Laura's Husky * His long black coat was tailored in a style she had never seen before. It reminded her of something out of a medieval movie. He wore tight pants and boots that reached his knees. He was very tall and slender. He gave her the absolute creeps. "Still no idea?" came his voice. He merely looked at the window seat where her copy of the Labyrinth sat.   
  
"You're the Goblin King." she replied; suddenly understanding.  
  
"Very good. I knew you were a bright girl."  
  
"Then that means- you took my cousin Josh!" her voice was suddenly filled with rage and for an instant this surprised him.   
  
"Yes I did. I did as you asked." He glanced again at the book.  
  
'But I was just reading the book aloud. I didn't mean for you to actually take him." She knew deep down inside she wished that he would take Josh away.  
  
"Oh you didn't?" He said sarcastically.  
  
"No I didn't. Now bring him back. My aunt and uncle will be home in a few hours. If Josh isn't here when they come home, they'll ground me."  
  
The Goblin King looked amused. "Well you should have thought about that BEFORE you asked for him to be taken away."  
  
"Please, this was a mistake."  
  
"You know I can't just give him back to you. That would be going against the rules."  
  
She straightened herself, trying to make herself look like a more formidable opponent. "Then take me to the Labyrinth. I will find my way through it and find Josh at your castle."  
  
"Aren't you a brave little thing."  
  
"I'm not little!"   
  
*With such a temper. * He grinned. This girl was so full of herself that she would no doubt fail the Labyrinth. He didn't need to try and bribe her with gifts. This would be too easy. Pulling a crystal sphere from his hand he tossed it onto the ground between them and they both disappeared from the room.  
  
He had challenged her to beat the Labyrinth in 13 hours or her cousin would become a Goblin. This only inspired her even more to beat him. And she had. She had surprised herself with her own tactics. Her aunt and uncle had forced her into becoming a girl scout when she was younger, no doubt so that they didn't have to spend time with her, but what she had learned helped her indefinitely. She was so stubborn that she refused to take anyone's help when it was offered to her. In 10 hours she had made her way to the Goblin City, and by the time it had been 11 hours she had made her way to the Goblin King's castle. Jareth had been totally surprised. How had this girl reached the castle so fast? She had made no friends, had not attempted to turn any of his minions against him. She had done it alone and by herself. Not even the unicorn he had created had distracted her. If anything she had become more determined when he had tried to thwart her efforts. Marching straight into the Escher room she demanded that her cousin be released.   
  
"I've beat your Labyrinth, Jareth, King of the Goblins, now I want my cousin back." He stood before her, a smug look on his face. She had even learned his name within her travels. He had sorely underestimated this girl.  
  
"Give him back so you will be forced to baby sit him every night while your friends go out and have a good time?"  
  
"I've accepted my fate. I saw in the pool what would happen. They're going to forget Josh and treat him just like they treat me when he gets older. He needs me to take care of him." She couldn't get the images from the pool she had found within the labyrinth out of her mind. Josh was new to them and with time, he would be forgotten just as she was. She didn't want anyone else to feel lonely as she had, growing up. Feeling unwanted. Josh wouldn't know how that felt. She would make certain of that.   
  
"Ah yes, the Pool of Dreams. It doesn't always show you what will happen. It's a mere distraction just like all the others."  
  
'I don't care if it was a distraction or not. It's a possibility for the future. I'm not going to let Josh grow up feeling what I felt."  
  
He had most certainly underestimated this child. As he gazed at her, standing tall and refusing to be frightened, he realized that he hadn't had the chance to dance with her in the ballroom. She had refused the peaches he had made fall from the tree on her way through the forest despite the hunger she felt. She also refused any other presents he had left for her along the path to the castle. She was very different from any other who had entered the Labyrinth. She had an iron will that could not be bent easily. Still he would try...  
  
"Samantha, I have a present for you." He told her waving his hands and like magic a crystal sphere appeared in his black gloved palm.   
  
"I'm not interested."  
  
"You're not interested in riding unicorns, living in a castle or taking a quest with fairies?" he arched an eyebrow.  
  
His offer was so tempting. He knew exactly what she dreamed of doing. But dreams had their limits. Would she feel joy knowing Josh was feeling alone and unwanted while she played with creatures of magic and fantasy? He held out the crystal ball to her, beckoning for her to take it from his grasp, to live her dreams. But that determined look had appeared on her face again. She was not interested in his presents. She opened her mouth to speak but he silenced her with a glance.   
  
"Samantha, I have been generous thus far, but I can also be cruel."  
  
"You're not cruel, Jareth, you're misguided and I'm not interested in your generosity." Her tone was not angry but firm. He looked desperate suddenly. She could see the desperation in his mismatched eyes.   
  
"Just fear me, Love me, do as I say and I will be your slave. I can make your dreams come true."  
  
"Nice try, but no." She said shaking her head. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have found my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city. For my will is as strong and my kingdom is as great." He suddenly looked sad and utterly vulnerable and it crushed her, but there was no other way. "You have no power over me." She said in a voice that had lost its strength. The crystal dropped from his hand and with his clothing flowing around him he turned into a white owl, flying away into the night. The castle and the Labyrinth faded from view. She was in her aunt and uncle's bedroom and Joshua was fast asleep in his crib. She could hear the sound of the car pulling into the driveway. Grabbing her Labyrinth book she returned it to it's hiding spot and then returned to their bedroom.   
  
With time the vision she saw in the pool of dreams came true. Her aunt and uncle were not so interested in Josh after all and since she was lonely, taking care of Josh became not a chore but a joy. He became a brother she never had and as she grew older he felt like a son. Every so often as she grew older she often thought of the Goblin King. She regretted having to defeat him at the end. She never knew that she was the only one who ever regretted defeating him. After all she had summoned him and he had lived up to her expectations after all. The look on his face when she had said those last words never left her. As she grew older she began to believe that her trip to the labyrinth had been a dream. Jareth was no doubt her mind's fancy of a man she longed for in her life. For two years after what she believed was a dream, she still thought of him. He had seemed so real and despite his strange appearance she found him handsome. She was 16 and growing more and more aware of boys. A year later she met Mark and her life changed, and Jareth became a forgotten memory. 


	4. Mistaken Intentions

I'm going to town on this story before my enemy, writers block, comes to visit me. If there are things that I don't like, I MAY change them later on. So don't be surprised if small things get added or dropped. I have the bad tendency to write as I go along and not make myself a character and story outline at the beginning. Hey I'm an Illustrator and a painter by trade not a writer! . As always please review if you like or dislike something or if you want to e-mail me with comments, (cormak3032@yahoo.com) please feel free.   
  
Disclaimer: yep, the full version is still located in chapter one. Unfortunately what's said is said and doesn't change. I still don't own the Labyrinth or it's characters. What a pity.  
  
Chapter 4: Mistaken Intentions  
  
  
She awakened slowly, visions of the Labyrinth, Jareth and the night she had gone to rescue Josh, floated clearly across her mind. The sun felt warm on her skin as she lay within the safety and comfort of her bed. The sheets felt a little softer this morning as did the mattress. Still not wanting to open her eyes she wondered what day it was. Did she have to work? Or pick up Josh after school? Finally she opened her eyes but she did not expect to see what she saw upon opening them. She was not sleeping in her own bed and she was not in her room or house. It took her a few moments to remember the events of last night. She was in the Goblin King's castle. Jareth's castle. Her dreams were still fresh in her mind along with the images of Jareth. He was powerful, and had struck fear in her heart as a teenager, but at the same time she would never truly fear him. Despite herself, she remained in the soft silk sheets of the bed and let thoughts of the Goblin King take over her mind.  
  
She had taken her job of caring for Josh seriously after going to the Labyrinth. In the weeks and months that followed her Labyrinth experience, she dreamed continuously of the Labyrinth's twisted paths and of Jareth, who's image remained crystal clear in her mind. He had been a perfect opponent but had unexpectedly changed her feelings at the end of the game. She should have felt joy at defeating him, but instead she felt pure regret and often wondered if she had destroyed him and his kingdom. Her regret eventually disappeared and within the next year she unwillingly fell head over heels for him. At first the thought of having a crush on him was absurd! Her friends all had crushes on boys at school. Besides, Jareth was, well Jareth! The Goblin King, ruler of the Labyrinth and the Underground while she lived Aboveground. He was also an adult and she was a silly 15 year-old, turning 16 in a few short weeks. He would never be interested in her. Still, thinking about him put excitement in her life. She remembered the way he walked, the sound of his voice, the style of clothing he wore, the way his brow arched when he was contemplating something, his mismatched eyes that revealed the emotions he tried to hide. He had become ingrained in her mind. She dreamt of him more often then she had wanted to. Her friends had been worried when she wasn't drooling over boys at school. But her obsession with the Goblin King did finally end. As she grew older, she began to think that going to the Labyrinth was nothing but a very realistic dream. Her thoughts and dreams of Jareth were no doubt the result of reading the Labyrinth too many times, her wild imagination and the fact that she had not found a boy in high school that she liked. She grew to believe that she had created someone who was older and more experienced in life. Someone who was handsome, his character had been stretched and changed by her imagination. Jareth faded from her memory as did her trip to the Labyrinth. Soon she did not dream of the dashing Goblin King with the spiky blond hair, and mismatched eyes. She was dreaming of Mark Sampson, a very handsome transfer to her school.   
  
There was a sound outside the door and she was brought harshly back to reality. She sat up in the bed, but remained quiet. The sound passed and she sighed. The last thing she needed to do was see Jareth after she had been thinking about him. She had closed Jareth out of her life 2 years ago and she refused to let him in again. She glanced down at the bed that she was sitting on and realized as she glanced down that she was not in her tank top and shorts. She was in her favorite peach colored silk nightshirt. Where had it come from? All of her belongings were at home. *Wait a minute, how did I end up in this bed? * She knew for a fact that she had refused to sleep in it and had instead curled up on the large windowsill. "Jareth." she hissed. She was suddenly very angry. How dare he bring her here and force her into things. "Damn that man. Who does he think he is?" She continued to glance around the room and saw that there was a dresser that she had not remembered seeing last night. Her curiosity got the better of her and she got off the bed, moving towards it. She carefully opened one drawer and to her surprise saw some of her clothes. A few pairs of her jeans and some of her t-shirts were folded neatly. "Ok that does it! First he invades my privacy by spying on me, then he kidnaps me, sends me into the Labyrinth in the freezing cold, makes me sleep in a bed I didn't want to sleep in and then steals my clothes!" She could feel her face becoming red.  
  
"Steal is such a harsh word. More like borrowed them from your room so that you would be comfortable while you stayed. And you did have a good night sleep so the bed could not have been that bad."  
  
She spun around on her heel to see the Goblin King standing in front of the door. She had not even heard him come in. "You are number one on my shit list right now Jareth. You had better stop screwing around with me." She could not believe the tenacity of this man. What angered her even more was how he stood perfectly still with that look on his face. The look that he was totally amused by her anger. He was probably laughing at her inside.  
  
"Is this any way to start a beautiful day?"   
  
"It will be a beautiful day when I'm back in my own bed in my own house. Aboveground."  
  
"Oh come now."  
  
"I'm starting to lose my temper Jareth."  
  
'I can see that dear."  
  
"Stop that! I'm not your dear." He grinned at her words, which only angered her further.   
  
"I didn't come to argue with you."  
  
"Good then you can get the hell out! You showed yourself in, why don't you show yourself back out?!" Her anger was flowing like a raging river now. She stood under his intense gaze. Why was he just starting at her like that? His eyes would not meet hers, but instead they glanced all over her and she suddenly felt VERY uncomfortable. She glanced down at herself suddenly realizing that she was wearing nothing but her flimsy silk nightshirt. Their eyes finally met and he quickly gazed away from her. Was that nervousness she saw in his eyes?  
  
"I came to tell you that breakfast will be ready in a half hour, in the dining hall, just down the stairs at the end of the hallway." No words came to her at first. This was hardly what she expected. First he showed up, then brought her to the Labyrinth where he abandoned her, then he brought her to the castle, made her sleep in that bed and brought her clothes from home. Now he was asking her to breakfast? *I'm really lost... *   
  
"Br- Breakfast?" she stuttered.  
  
He grinned devilishly, his arrogance taking over again. "Yes. Breakfast you know, the first meal of the day? Or would you like to be stubborn and skip it?" She was about to open her mouth when he cut her off. "I would have thought that by now you would have realized that you are my guest and -"  
  
"Excuse me, did I hear that correctly? Guest? I'm not a guest I'm a prisoner."  
  
"Hardly. I see no chains bound to you. And I've tried to make your stay comfortable but you have made things... difficult."   
  
"Maybe there are no physical chains, but I don't see me being able to leave if I want to."  
  
"You don't want to leave."  
  
She laughed heartily at this. " No I've only asked that you send me home about 10 times." She said through grit teeth. He gazed at her amusedly.   
  
"You forget that I know you Samantha. I know exactly what you want, even if you do not yet know." She was about to start yelling and cursing at him but he never allowed her the chance. In one swift movement he had her in his arms and had lowered his mouth to hers. She gasped ready to start pounding him with her fists, but instead found to her horror that she was kissing him back! She could feel the warmth of his body beneath her, could feel his hands, one on the small of her back the other gently tracing her jaw line. His hair was tickling her face and neck as he kissed her so gently. Slowly he pulled away from her leaving her longing for his touch. She caught something in his eyes but it disappeared far too quickly and was replaced with arrogance and victory.   
  
"What the hell was that all about?" *I think I'm going to faint. *   
  
"Just a little something to let you think about." He said with a hint of arrogance.   
  
"I'm not here so you can play games with me Jareth. You're acting like Mark for god's sake. Trying to win me over and manipulate me." As soon as the words had left her mouth she wished that she could have taken them back.  
  
His eyes flashed dark with anger and for an instant she felt fear. "Don't you EVER, compare me to him. EVER." She had definitely struck a nerve. His tone was icy and his eyes were filled with rage. "I am nothing like him. Nothing!" he spat. She watched him walk away from her and pace near the door of the room. He stopped, suddenly glaring at her and she felt herself back away from him. "I never hurt you, I never beat you, and I never attempted to seduce you when your guard was down."  
  
"What was that little display for then? You wanted to distract me from going home by kissing me? You did it to confuse me, to fall into one of your traps. Well it isn't going to work."   
  
Jareth looked positively annoyed now. "Why do you insist that everything I do has to be a game?"  
  
"Because that's the way you work. Games and trickery and deception."  
  
"I have only been what you've wanted me to be." He shot back. "If you had wanted a knight in shining armor, I would have granted your wish. But you wanted me to be evil and without mercy so that you could beat me and feel a sense of triumph."  
  
"So maybe I did want that in the past. But that was the past Jareth, 7 years ago. What I wanted as a teenager and what I want as an adult are very different."  
  
"Oh are they?" he raised a brow, a look of pure desire in his eyes.  
  
She forced herself to ignore the way he was looking at her. "Yes they are. You claim that you know me and that you know what I want. Maybe you know pieces of my life, but you don't know ME." She crossed her arms over her chest and refused to look at him. "It must be breakfast time by now and your food is probably getting cold. I won't be joining you." It took him a few moments to realize what she had said. Tossing his cape angrily behind him he abruptly left the room. Samantha turned and gazed at the empty room for a moment. *Why do I have to always go into defense mode? I dreamt of kissing him for two years. He kisses me and I practically spit in his face! Good going Samantha! I'm such an idiot! He can't possibly know what I want because I'm not even so sure myself! * In all truth, Jareth HAD confused her. His kiss had stirred unresolved emotions within her that scared the hell out of her. She moved to the bed and sat on the silk sheets while tears streamed gently down her face.  
  
Jareth paced the dining hall like a caged animal. There was fury and power in each step. *I finally try and open myself up to her and she dismisses me! Acts as if I'm going to do to her what HE did to her! * He wondered if he had misinterpreted things. Perhaps it was not regret he had sensed coming from her after she defeated him, perhaps it had not been desire he sensed coming from her in the years that followed his defeat. *But I was so sure of it! Other wise I would not have wasted my time! I would have let her be, but now... * Jareth threw himself down hard into one of the chairs at the dinning table. Breakfast for two was laid out in front of him, but he didn't even glance at it. Instead he raised one gloved hand to his forehead and tried to cover the sudden grief, anguish and confusion he felt appearing. 


	5. Meeting Half Way

AN: Moving right along, here is chapter 5. Please let me know what you think!  
  
  
  
Meeting Half way  
  
  
  
He had no idea how long he had been sitting at the table, his hand over his face. All he could think about was how she had dismissed him. There was no doubt in his mind now that she was just like all the others. She hated him and wished to return home. She would never love him. No mere mortal ever would. They would continue to see him as a monster no matter what he did. He heard the sound of whispering and footfall and looked up to see two goblins standing nervously by the table.  
  
"Shall we take the dishes back to the kitchen, lord?"  
  
Gazing across the table at the uneaten food, he felt anger. He tried to be nice to her, tried to make her see that there was another side to him. 'Yes take them away. I can't bear to look at them." But she had rejected him. He put his hand across his face while he waved the other at the table in front of him. The goblins nervously reached for the dishes.  
  
"Wait! Please leave them."  
  
Jareth bolted straight up in his chair and nearly toppled over. His eyes grew wide when he saw a figure standing in the darkness of the doorway. Surely his mind was playing tricks on him. He blinked but the figure was still there.  
  
Samantha stepped into the light and watched with amusement as Jareth looked at her, astonishment drawn all over his handsome features. "We haven't had a chance to eat breakfast yet." She told the goblins.  
  
The goblins looked up at their lord begging with their eyes what they dare not ask with their tongues. "Do as the lady says. Leave the dishes and go about your business." The goblins looked pleased and they scurried out of the room. Samantha continued to step into the room, taking in all that surrounded her with amazement. Jareth could only stare at her. What was she doing here? She had been bitter and angry with him, dismissed him and refused to eat with him and now she was changing her mind? * I will never understand women! * He stood quickly pulling his long coat down and gave himself a glance to make sure that he was presentable. She looked incredible. She wore her clothing from the aboveground. A pair of jeans and a long sleeve cotton top. She had brushed her hair and put on some make-up. *Careful Jareth, one intimate glance from her and it will be your undoing. * She finally stopped at the table and looked at Jareth with a nervous smile.  
  
"I..I thought you were not joining me?" He looked puzzled.  
  
"I changed my mind." She replied flashing him a teasing grin. Remembering his manners he rushed to the side of the table and pulled out a chair. He gestured with his eyes for her to sit and she did. Slowly he pushed the chair in for her.  
  
"Um, the food is cold." He offered lamely. "But I can fix that, if you would like." He added.  
  
"Whatever you want." She shrugged. A joy grew within him at having the chance to show off his magic to her in a non-threatening way. He waved his hands over the table and in moments the cold food was hot and looked like it was fresh from the kitchen. She smiled simply at him and he felt his breath catch in his throat. They had taken 10 steps backwards to get to this point and he dared to hope that they would now be taking a few steps forward.  
  
They ate breakfast in silence. The only sound heard were utensils scraping plates. Jareth couldn't help but look up at her every few minutes. She was very involved in eating and hadn't noticed his intense stares. The anger he had felt less then an hour ago seemed to have gone and instead he felt relief. Things were not completely fine between them but this was a start. A start that he thoroughly embraced. The mask of arrogance he normally wore was hidden although it was on stand by should he need it. He would not let his guard down. He sipped at his tea and watched her. Suddenly she looked up at him and he grinned. She returned a grin of her own and then continued to eat her meal. *Gods, she's beautiful. * She looked so lovely with her hair cascading down her shoulders in bouncy curls. At times he couldn't understand his own fascination with this mortal woman, but when she was vulnerable like she was now, he understood it. Deep within he had a longing to protect her, care for her needs and stay by her side. He had felt a deep attachment to Samantha only after she had beaten him. She was so different from the other girls, so head strong and powerful in her own way. She was a perfect match for him and that was only half the reason he sought her. She had been losing touch with her dreams and desires. Life had been cruel to her the past few years. Mark had turned out not to be whom she originally thought. She'd been beaten, and changed forever by his touch. Josh was taken from her cruelly when she fell into depression. Losing Josh only caused her to become more unstable. Jareth had watched her. He had hoped that things would become better for her and they had, very slowly. The headstrong girl returned but not completely. He felt it was his job to bring out her full potential. He finally pulled his eyes away from her and began to pick at his plate, which was still nearly full.  
  
Samantha watched him with curiosity. She had been unaware of how many times the Goblin King had stared at her while she ate. And now as he picked at his plate she regarded him. *God he's handsome. I don't know how any woman could ever resist him. How the hell have I been able to? Maybe because he's an evil Goblin King, duh. * She finally tore her eyes away from him to finish her own breakfast.  
  
"Samantha." The sound of his voice echoed loudly in the quiet room. She looked up to see Jareth staring nervously at her. She was actually uneasy at the sight of seeing him unsure of himself. He was always in charge. "I know that things didn't go quite as planned for our reunion. Of course that's an incredible understatement." Was that an attempt at humor? "I know that I don't deserve it, but I thought I would ask anyhow." She nodded at him to continue. "I'd like to start over. We acted like children instead of adults. It appears that I've been around babes and goblins too much. I've lost touch with how to act in a mature manner."  
  
"If that's an apology it's accepted. Besides you are not the one to blame here. I haven't been very nice to you. You haven't done anything to harm me, you've just disoriented me slightly. I'd like to start over too."  
  
"Then it's settled. To start things off, why don't I give you a tour. There are many more rooms in the castle, and the Labyrinth does have some interesting places that few have ever see."  
  
"Ok. I'd like that. But on one condition."  
  
He hated stipulations. "Name it."  
  
"You're to act like yourself." He gave her a blank stare. "You told me that you have been everything that I wanted. The cold, cruel evil sorcerer and you played the part very well. But I want to see what the real Jareth is like." He was about to open his mouth to speak but she waved a hand at him. "It's obvious you brought me here for a reason. I doubt it's to sit around and eat breakfast with you. You don't want me to leave, that much I know. I'm still trying to figure out why, but I'll make a deal with you."  
  
"What is this a two for one deal?"  
  
She chuckled at his words and he gave her a blank stare. "Sorry, Aboveground humor. Like I was saying, you act like yourself. I'll spend time with you and we'll go from there. No promises that I'm going to stay here." *What the hell am I offering?? * "If things go well I will think about it, but if I decide I want to leave, you must send me home."  
  
This was much more then he had hoped for. They had moved ahead about 15 steps from where they were an hour ago. He gave her a wicked grin. "What if I don't accept this deal?"  
  
'Then I make your life a miserable hell and believe me, you will WANT to send me home." He watched her for a moment and then rose from the table to stand beside her. He offered his hand to her, which she took into hers after a moment of hesitation.  
  
"I agree to your terms on the condition that you give me a fair chance and enough time."  
  
"Done." He nodded to this and slowly released her hand. He could feel the warmth of her right through his leather gloves.  
  
"Ready for your tour?"  
  
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."  
  
He watched her for a moment more. She was more unpredictable then he could have imagined. She was a challenge for him and he wanted desperately to prove himself worthy of that challenge. The possibility that she might stay with him was a feeling that overwhelmed him. No one had ever offered him this chance. They had all gone home without a backward glance, except for Samantha. Despite their rocky reunion he believed he had a good chance to show her how he felt and to tell her exactly what he wanted. He wanted her. 


	6. I am who I am

I wasn't going to post anymore and planned on going to bed, but I was inspired to write more. I've been listening to the Labyrinth soundtrack while I've worked on this story and it's been a wonderful inspiration.  
  
Chapter 6: I am who I am  
  
The tour of the castle took slightly longer then Jareth had anticipated. Samantha was in awe of everything she saw.  
  
"When I was younger I never took the time to stop and appreciate what was in front of me. I was just so determined to get Josh back that I never noticed the architecture or the furnishings. I never realized how different the light of the Underground is from aboveground."  
  
"The sunlight here has more of an orange hue to it. It's easier on the eyes and makes for some spectacular sunsets." Jareth was walking just behind her, his gloved hands clasped together behind his back. He watched how she let her hands graze the stones bathed in the light of the sun to feel their warmth.  
  
'I've never seen the sunset here. It was still in the sky before I left."  
  
* Yes it burned in the sky while you were here and set leaving me in darkness after you were gone..* "You didn't stay long enough to see it. Besides would you have even noticed it, if it had set?"  
  
She shook her head. "No, again I was preoccupied with other things." An odd silence descended over them. "Jareth, why do you steal babies?" She pulled her hands away from the stones and for a moment looked as she had asked a terrible question.  
  
He gave her a warm reassuring smile and he saw her relax under his gaze. "I don't steal them. I merely bring them here since I have been commanded to."  
  
"You mean when people wish you to take them."  
  
"Yes. I don't take children away from their parents or families just because I feel like it. I'm not heartless despite how many tales portray me. I take those that are unwanted and the one that wished the child away is given a chance to win the child back. Only those who truly love and care for the child will succeed in defeating the Labyrinth."  
  
'So I won, because I cared about what would happen to Josh?"  
  
"Precisely. Your love for him was always within you. You just needed to find it."  
  
"How many people have braved the Labyrinth?"  
  
"I've lost count, but many."  
  
"What did you do with the children if the person who wished them here lost?"  
  
Jareth raised a brow at her. "Why do I feel as if I'm being interrogated?"  
  
"I don't know. Do you have a guilty conscience?"  
  
"No I don't. I am who I am."  
  
"Ok then. You won't mind fur-filling my curiosity then."  
  
"I just don't want the truth of how things are done here to make you pass early judgement on me." He offered, realizing that he was making himself vulnerable. He was making it very obvious that her feelings mattered to him.  
  
'I haven't passed any judgment yet, so chill out. I just want to know. After all, my book didn't tell me what happened after the Goblin King was defeated or if he wasn't defeated. This is all new to me."  
  
He nodded. "Very well. The children who are deemed as unwanted are transformed into goblins."  
  
"What?"  
  
"How would you tell an unwanted child that he's not loved and that he was wished here by those who claimed they loved him? Would you return him to that home and have him live out his life feeling miserable? The children left here are transformed and with their new appearance they forget who they were aboveground. They live their life out as a goblin, feeling wanted by their village and complete in the knowledge that they have family, friends and a King who appreciate them."  
  
"If things had been different, Josh might have been a goblin." She swallowed.  
  
'It's possible, but your love for him was true. He was never in real danger of becoming a goblin. Your love alone saved him."  
  
She nodded and they continued on through the castle courtyard in silence. Jareth watched her out of the corner of his eyes. She was contemplating things and most likely thanking whatever god she believed in for not turning her cousin into a goblin.  
  
'Well I'm not unwanted and I'm not a child. Why am I here?" She had stopped walking behind him. Jareth stopped and turned to face her.  
  
"No you are neither." He said painfully soft.  
  
"Then why did you bring me here?" She asked again. Jareth looked into her eyes, watching as different emotions swirled within their blue- green depths.  
  
He pulled his eyes from hers and turned to gaze at the sun lowering in the sky. 'Some things are best left unanswered until the correct time to reveal them arrives. That time has not arrived yet."  
  
She said nothing to this but watched him. Jareth was definitely uneasy about something and that bothered her. But she had asked him to be himself and if he was being honest by showing her his true feelings then she had to accept that. No matter how much she wanted to challenge those feelings.  
  
'The sun will be setting soon. There is a wonderful view from the north tower. You can see the entire Labyrinth as well as have an unobstructed view of the sky." She nodded and let him lead the way. Their journey to the tower was made in silence as nothing had been accomplished with their prior conversation but uneasiness between them. Samantha leaned over the window-sill in awe of the sunset as Jareth stood behind her watching her. He couldn't keep the truth from her forever. He couldn't keep it from himself much longer. 


	7. Soothing the Pain

Here is Chapter 7. Thank you to those who are leaving me reviews. Keep 'em coming!  
  
Disclaimers: They still are in Chapter one  
  
Soothing the Pain  
  
Jareth and Samantha spent a great deal of time together over the next few days. He continued to show her sights in his Kingdom that few had ever seen. She began to feel guilty for starting to enjoy herself in his presence and wondered what was going on Aboveground.  
  
They were walking along a pond north of the castle. "What day is it aboveground?" she asked as they walked along side each other.  
  
"It's the same day that you left." He answered simply.  
  
"How can that be? Unless time is different here in the Underground."  
  
'It is different. Time passes more quickly here."  
  
"But I've been here for days. At least a day or even two must have passed back home. Josh must be livid because he hasn't heard from me. Oh and what about my dog?" A wave of guilt swept over her.  
  
"King is sleeping soundly at the foot of your bed and believes that you are still outside seeing Josh off." She gave him a look of helplessness. "Here, see for yourself." He pulled a crystal sphere from thin air and offered it to her. She took it carefully, showing him that she still didn't trust him.  
  
Peering into the crystal she saw that Jareth spoke the truth. Her husky, King was lying at the foot of her bed. Everything was as she had left it. "I still don't understand how." She told him, handing the sphere back to him. "Time would have passed by now. It should have."  
  
"Not everything is as it seems."  
  
"Oh not the riddles. I'd like a straight answer. Is that so difficult?" One of his brows rose as he detected irritation in her voice. It had been the first time in days that she had appeared annoyed at him.  
  
"I've re-altered time. Are you happy now?" He was surprised at the annoyance in his own voice.  
  
"What did you go and do that for?"  
  
"I did it for you! Who else would I have done it for?" He exploded. His eyes were full of fire and sudden anger. *Unappreciative of everything I do for her! * She lowered her eyes to the ground away from his stare. He noticed that she had been doing this a lot more lately. The anger faded from his eyes and he sighed heavily. "It was meant to be a present, so that you would not have to worry about what was happening aboveground."  
  
"Your presents always come with a price Jareth. What is it this time?"  
  
He pulled back from her. "Can I do anything right in your eyes? It takes an incredible amount of my power to do something like freeze time so I'm the one paying the price. You should be a little more appreciative. I don't do this for just anyone."  
  
"Well why me?" She had been demanding more and more answers about her reason for being with him and he was finding it more and more difficult to avoid her questions. He was trying to think of what to tell her when she noticed something. "Jareth, why is it that everywhere else in the Labyrinth is dead or dying and this pond is brimming with new life?" He sighed, relieved at her distraction.  
  
"The Labyrinth has seasons like the aboveground so things wilt and die and then they bloom again. This place is slightly different. It responds to my moods and changes accordingly."  
  
She glanced around watching birds sing in the trees. Everything was green here. The grass was tall and flowers bloomed in the long blades. She suddenly felt very uneasy about being here. "Jareth, I'm tired. I'd like to return to the castle."  
  
"very well." He picked a sphere from the air again and tossed it to the ground between them and moments later they were back at the castle.  
  
"I'm going to get some sleep. Let me know when it's dinnertime." He nodded and watched her go, feeling as if she were running away from him.  
  
Jareth knew that something was definitely wrong with Samantha as time passed. She seemed with drawn and always tired. It was he who should have been feeling this way, not her. He had felt energetic despite the amount of magic it took for him to freeze time aboveground. Being in her presence had rejuvenated him, but now, while not in her presence he began to feel the effects and strains of using so much of his power. She was dismissing him again and he was afraid that he was losing her.  
  
Samantha was laying on her bed staring out the window when she heard a soft knock at the door. *Maybe if I don't answer they will think that I'm sleeping and will leave me alone. * A few moments later there was another soft knock. "Milady, dinner is served and his majesty wishes you to dine with him." Came a small voice. Samantha got up from the bed with a sigh and walked to the door unlocking it and finally opening the door. A little goblin stood at the door, acting very nervous. *He could be someone's little boy that they never saw again. * She realized horribly. "Please Milady, the King is waiting."  
  
"Tell me, what is your name?"  
  
'Mma ma my name?" She nodded. "I am Grackith."  
  
"Tell me Grackith, are you happy living here?"  
  
"I do not live in the castle, milady. My mother does. She works in the kitchen and I visit and help out to make extra money for my family. The King is very generous and I only serve him once and a great while."  
  
"The King is generous?" she echoed.  
  
"Yes. That is what I said. He is generous. If it were not for his majesty many of us would starve. We are not good hunters. We can not run fast. His majesty provides many of us with food or money to buy food." He cocked his head at her, confused by her line of questioning.  
  
"Thank you Grackith. Please tell the king that I will be down shortly." The little goblin nodded and scurried away down the hall. "Strange. I would never have thought Jareth to be charitable to his subjects. Perhaps I'm not giving him the fair chance that I promised him. I'm trying to pass judgement on him too quickly as he feared I would." She stepped back into her room to brush her hair and change her clothes.  
  
Jareth paced in front of the giant fireplace in the dining hall. *Where is she? Is she trying to stand me up? Sometimes I wonder why I even bother! * His pacing came to a halt when he heard foot fall. His breath caught in his throat when he looked up. * Gods, that's why I bother… * She had chosen to dress up, just slightly, but enough to have him overwhelmed with her beauty. The night was warm and she had chosen to wear a simple cotton sleeveless dress. It was blue with a white flower print and it fell to her ankles. Her hair was pulled half up with a blue ribbon that matched the dress. At the sight of her, his anger and exhaustion faded away.  
  
"Something smells good." She commented as she walked to the table.  
  
"Can you guess what it is?" He had moved to stand in front of her and he watched as she closed her eyes trying to figure out what it is she could smell.  
  
"I'd say chicken pie but-"  
  
"Excellent sense of smell. That's exactly what it is."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really. I believe it's a favorite dish of yours?"  
  
"Yes. My aunt used to make it. My aunt and I never got along very well but I can't dismiss the fact that she is an excellent cook. I miss her meals." She added sadly.  
  
"Ah yes, you don't like to cook."  
  
"not one of my favorite things to do." She said with a grin.  
  
Dinner was spent in relative silence as Samantha silently enjoyed the chicken pie and vegetables that tasted so much like her aunts. After dinner she and Jareth went up to the north tower to talk quietly and gaze our the windows. Even the moon in the Labyrinth looked different. It was a beautiful cerulean blue and it cast it's light as far as the eye could see. Samantha leaned over the window-sill as Jaretb leaned against the stone wall beside. She had been very quiet since they had come to gaze over his kingdom and he worried that perhaps she was feeling uncomfortable in his presence.  
  
"Jareth." His name was said in such a faint whisper he thought for a moment that he had imagined her saying it. When he looked down at her to see her staring at him he knew that she had indeed called him. He nodded at her. She moved out of the windowsill and leaned her back against the cool stone wall to face him. "How is that you came to rule the Labyrinth? Have you always lived here?"  
  
He smiled, knowing very well that she would ask about him at some point. The skin on his face appeared even paler then normal. The flesh beneath his eyes glittered in the light. His blond hair fell softly, framing his handsome face. He didn't look like an evil Goblin King as he stood here before her. Her breath caught in her throat when his eyes locked with hers, a sincere smile on his face that was meant only for her. * I'm falling, I'm falling fast… *  
  
He broke eye contact with her and he took a seat in the windowsill crossing his legs at his ankles and crossing his arms over his chest. Sam could only watch him. He was mesmerizing and his good looks were dangerous to her sanity. "I didn't always live here. I grew up in London, that's where the accent came from." He winked at her. She smiled and he continued. "I was born in the 1300's." He watched her eyes widen with surprise. "Well how old did you think I was?" he asked flashing her a deadly smile.  
  
"I don't know. Not that old. You only look to be in your thirties."  
  
"You're relying on your senses and not your wits. You should know by now that not everything is as it seems in this place."  
  
"Yeah I know."  
  
"I'm immortal Samantha, so I don't age. I came here when I was 30 and once I became the King of the Labyrinth and was handed its powers, I stopped aging. Biologically at least. Although when I see and feel certain things I feel as if I'm 30 again." His mismatched eyes briefly flitted over her features.  
  
She tore her eyes away from him, glancing nervously out the window and then gave him a quick, short glance. "So you can't die then."  
  
"Not by the hand of a mortal. I can die if beheaded by someone of magic."  
  
"SO there are more creatures of magic in this place?"  
  
"not in my kingdom, but in surrounding Kingdoms. Which reminds me, Every 50 years the rulers of the neighboring Kingdom of Gelfon have a large ball. I usually don't attend these things. Everyone just dances and talks about politics and what they've been doing for the past 50 years. And I must tell you, not much changes in that amount of time. I also don't go because I usually don't have anyone to go with and I detest going alone. I went to one of these balls about 150 years ago and I didn't enjoy having women I didn't know following me around and flaunting themselves at me."  
  
She chuckled. "What's the matter? I thought you liked being the center of attention?"  
  
"Only when it suits me. I must admit, women make me uncomfortable. I'm always surrounded by goblins and children trying to save their babes. I must be out of touch with adults."  
  
"So you suddenly feel the need to attend this ball? And with me no less?"  
  
He grinned devilishly at her and slid across the windowsill. Standing he moved closer to her, his eyes filled with amusement. "I would like to know if anything important has happened. Something must have happened in 150 years. Even if it was Prince Flanagan tripping down the stairs again."  
  
"Oh so I'm just a tag-a-long for this event?" he saw her eyes sparkling with laughter and he couldn't resist the urge to tease her.  
  
"Well maybe, just maybe I'd ask you to dance just once with me. I don't want to hear it from you later that you were bored." He smiled and didn't realize that he had moved closer to her and their faces were now mere inches apart.  
  
"Only one dance? Maybe you should go by yourself then. You'll be no fun at all" She couldn't help but grin at him. He moved closer still and she was so caught up staring at how gorgeous he was close up in the moonlight, that she didn't notice. Nor did she notice that his hand was inching up the wall, closer and closer to her face.  
  
"Well if you put it that way. Maybe I'll do as I planned and dance with you the entire night, until your feet hurt and I'll have to carry you home." The smile faded slowly from his face and she watched as his eyes filled with desire and passion. He was moving closer and closer to her. Suddenly she panicked. He saw it in her eyes just as he was about to kiss her and he instantly pulled back from her, as if he had touched something hot. She looked unnerved and he cursed at himself.  
  
"Forgive me. Seducing you was not my intention." He peered down at the floor afraid to see how she was looking at him.  
  
"It's ok." Her voice was so painfully soft he had to strain just to hear it. "I said it's ok Jareth." They remained in silence a few more moments. "Why." Her voice cracked and she licked her lips trying to start over. He afforded a glance at her, seeing that she was acting very nervous. * God, I'm a fool.. * he thought to himself. "Why are you so obsessed with not seducing me?" She realized that sounded like an incredibly stupid question and he could take it the wrong way. She watched him lean against the wall, his hands clasped behind him.  
  
"Because that's what HE did to you. I saw the results, and I refuse to see you hurt again."  
  
She swallowed. "umm, just how much do you know about me and Mark?" He gave her a quick glance before returning his eyes to the floor. "You've obviously kept a tab on me over the years…"  
  
"I never meant to." He turned from her resting his hands on the windowsill as he stared out over his kingdom. "I haven't watched your every move, if that's what you think." The arrogance was back in his voice. His mask was firmly in place.  
  
"Well, you seem to know about everything that has happened lately, so if feels like you have."  
  
'I haven't. I was curious one day to know what you'd been up to. It had been 3 years since you had defeated me. I saw that you were happy with that man and I left you alone."  
  
"If that's only one time that you looked in on me, then how do you know about other things in my life? How did you know about the fight?"  
  
He glanced at her quickly, his mask of arrogance had dissolved and he looked incredibly vulnerable in the moonlight. "I didn't say that was the only time. Their were brief others. I don't know how it happened…but I suddenly felt pain and despair. They were not my own feelings and at first I didn't know whom they belonged to. Just so you know, I've never sensed anything like that before. I rarely deal with mortals unless they wish away their children." He sighed and then continued. "I used my magic to concentrate very hard on where these feelings were coming from. They wouldn't leave me alone. I could even feel them in my sleep. I finally decided to look in on you, seeing that you were the last Above grounder that I had looked in on. That is when I saw HIM hurting you."  
  
"So you watched him beat me? You just watched and didn't feel the need to intervene?" Her voice was suddenly cold and full of raw anger.  
  
"Do you really believe I'm that heartless?"  
  
"Well I didn't see you show up? You weren't there at the house and I never saw a white owl."  
  
"I was there. I just didn't want you to see me. I didn't want you to know that I was there. After all you didn't call me."  
  
"So what did you do?"  
  
"You don't remember how he got that awful scar right above his eyes?"  
  
"He lost his balance and fell over. He hit the corner of the coffee table, so what?."  
  
"How do you think he lost his balance?" Jareth's mismatched eyes brimmed with satisfaction.  
  
"You did something to him, didn't you?"  
  
"Yes I tripped the bastard. I had meant for him to hit his eye on the corner of the table, perhaps then he would have learned his lesson."  
  
"My god, if you hadn't tripped him…"  
  
"There is no doubt in my mind that he would have violated you in a manner I dare not think about. I know what he did to you after your friend died. I looked in on you from time to time before this fight."  
  
"You knew about Laura?"  
  
"How do you think you ended up with her husky?"  
  
"What did you do?  
  
"Her mother was going to send the dog to the pound. She couldn't bear to look at him after her daughter's death. I merely whispered your name into her ear, nothing more."  
  
"So you knew about what Mark did after Laura's car accident?"  
  
"Of course I did. I checked to make sure that things were all right and I stayed too long watching."  
  
"You were there?"  
  
"Not in the house, but in the oak tree."  
  
"You were an owl."  
  
"Yes. I thought that you had found an honorable young man who deserved you, but it appears I thought wrong. Instead of being there for you in your time of need, he seduced you when your guard was down and we both know what happened after that. And before you even think it or ask it, I did not watch. I left for the Labyrinth right away. I knew what he planned to do to you and I hated him for even thinking about it, but I had no right to interfere."  
  
Sam slid to the ground, shocked by what she was hearing.  
  
"This must be an ear full for you."  
  
"That's an understatement."  
  
"Believe me talking about your ex-boyfriend was not my intention tonight."  
  
She stood, tears suddenly in her eyes. "What were your intentions for tonight?"  
  
"I wanted to ask you to the ball, nothing more." He whispered. Tears began to stream down her face. She was confused and hurting from thinking about Mark. And Jareth had been watching her, protecting her. She never would have thought that to happen in a million years. She began to sob and in an instant Jareth had her in his arms. She rested her head beneath his chin and gripped the fabric of his shirt as she sobbed ugly wrenching sobs. He ran his gloved hands up and down her arms, through her hair and rocked her gently. "It's all right." He whispered. "I won't ever let him hurt you again." 


	8. Not What They Seem...

I could not wait to come home from work to write more of this story. It's always on my mind. I decided to write and post a bit more before I went off to bed. Thank you again to everyone who has taken the time to write a review. Knowing that other people enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it, inspires me. So thank you to all!  
  
"Not what they seem"  
  
Samantha opened her eyes and groaned. She had an incredible headache and felt disoriented. Slowly sitting up she found that she was in the room she had been staying in at Jareth's castle. She glanced down to see that she was still dressed in her cotton blue dress and it was still nightfall as little candles were lit all around her room. She tried to move and grasped her forehead.  
  
"Headache?" She slowly opened her eyes to see Jareth at her side. He sat beside her and raised one black gloved hand. He slowly let his hand wander to her face and pressed two fingers to her forehead. She closed her eyes and when she opened them his hand was gone, along with her headache. "Better?"  
  
She nodded touching where his fingers had touched her skin. "Too bad they couldn't pack that into a bottle of Tylenol." She smiled.  
  
"Despite the headache, how are you feeling?"  
  
"Tired." *Shocked, emotionally drained, confused, lonely. *  
  
"Then I'll let you rest. You've had a long night."  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"Just after midnight."  
  
"Geez I was sleeping all that time? We went to the tower around 7. I don't even remember walking with you to my room."  
  
He chuckled softy. "Well you wouldn't remember that because you were not awake." His smile broadened and as she looked at him she realized that she was forgetting how cruel he could act if he wanted to. She forced the thoughts from her mind and concentrated on the smile on his face. "You fell asleep and I carried you." He finished.  
  
"Thank you. I'm a little messed up emotionally right now."  
  
He frowned. "Because of me. I regret bringing up bad memories for you."  
  
"No it's ok. I had to face them, you know? I couldn't keep bottling things up inside of me. I have to be strong for Josh so I don't reveal my feelings very often. You're the first person I've talked to about Mark since we broke up."  
  
"He isn't worth talking about." He replied, brushing a stray curl from her face. "Certainly not after what he did to you."  
  
"Well he might have done more damage, if you hadn't…" She paused studying the Goblin King as he sat beside her. He was sitting directly by her side, his hands clasped in his lap. He wore a simple white shirt, with a low neckline, a black leather vest, his gray pants and black boots. She smiled sweetly and continued. "I didn't realize that I had a guardian watching over me. Who knows what evil he would have been capable of doing if you had not come along. Thank you."  
  
"Believe me I felt great pleasure at tripping him and watching his face hit the corner of that table. He's lucky that he was injured enough that he felt he should go to the hospital. If he had even thought about raising another hand to you I would have sent him to the Bog of Eternal Stench. I would have enjoyed tossing him in myself."  
  
She laughed out loud as she pictured Jareth dumping Mark into the Bog. It was the first time that she had laughed out loud in a long time.  
  
"Besides, I could not let anything happen to the only child who ever regretted defeating me."  
  
"How did you…?"  
  
"I'm full of surprises, aren't I? But we'll talk about what else I know and anything else your little heart desires AFTER you have rested." He got up off the bed and moved to the door and she followed him.  
  
She gave him a sweet smile and quickly planted a kiss on his cheek. "G'night Jareth."  
  
She could have sworn she saw him blush. "Good Night." He answered coolly and he closed the door behind him. A smile spread across Sam's face as she leaned against the back of the closed door. Jareth was definitely not who she thought he was.  
  
"Things are not always what they seem in this place." She said aloud. 


	9. Nightmares and Invisible Saviors

AN: Just a warning, a good deal of swearing in this chapter and some violence. You've been warned. This digs more into Sam's background as well as other things that I don't want to give away by saying. Thank you again to my reviewers! Keep 'em coming!  
  
Disclaimers: see chapter one.   
  
"Nightmares and Invisible Saviors"   
  
"Oh look at him Sam, he's so cute and he's so into you." Sam's partner in crime and best friend since 5th grade elbowed her to look at the new transfer to their school whom was walking by.   
  
"So what. I have no idea who he is, where he came from." * He is pretty handsome. *   
  
"Sam, I'm getting worried about you. When are you going to start going after some men."  
  
Samantha chuckled. "There aren't any men in this school. They're all little immature boys."  
  
Laura rolled her eyes and threw back her long blond hair. "Excuse me but what about Brad Martins?"  
  
Now it was time for Samantha to roll her eyes. "Pul-ease don't tell me that you are falling for the Captain of the Soccer team. Brad Martins is a stuck up jerk."  
  
"Yeah he needs a little work."  
  
"Not a little, Laur, a lot. A real lot. He may be a nice looking guy but he's got a bad attitude."  
  
"Um excuse me." Both girls looked up to see the new transfer standing beside them. He was tall, well built and had incredible blue eyes that looked so blue with his dark hair. "I'm sort of lost. I have Chemistry with Mr. Souza in room 58 and I can't find it." He raised a brow and gave them a look of utter confusion.   
  
Sam laughed softly. " I have Mr. Souza's class next. I can show you where it is."  
  
"That'd be great. Hey aren't you in my English class?"  
  
Sam smiled sweetly. "Yeah I am. I sit in the back row. I saw you got stuck in the front."  
  
"Yeah the breaks of being a new student." He smiled.   
  
"Sam I'll see you at lunch. I gotta go before I'm late for math."  
  
"Sure, see you later Laura." Laura walked away with a grin on her face.   
  
"C'mon I'll show you how to get to chemistry."  
  
'Thanks I really appreciate this. You're Samantha McGoff, right?"  
  
"Yeah." She was surprised that he remembered her name. "It's Mark right? I'm afraid I don't remember your last name."  
  
"That's ok. Yeah Mark Sampson."  
  
The two began to walk side by side down the busy hall. "So where did you move from?"  
  
"Portland Maine. Not too far away but not real close either. This town's nice though. I like living in the northeast."  
  
"I wouldn't dream of living anywhere else."  
  
"Have you and your parents always lived here?"  
  
"I don't live with my parents. They ah, they died when I was younger. I live with my aunt and uncle and my cousin, but yeah I've always lived here."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry."  
  
"It's ok. Look here we are, Chemistry." She smiled hesitantly and walked into the room, expecting him to take a seat elsewhere but he sat right next to her.   
  
"Do you need a lab partner? Or do you have one already?"   
  
"No I don't have one, but you're welcome to be mine, if um, if you want to."  
  
"Yeah sure."  
  
  
The days flew by in a blur and suddenly Samantha was spending time with a boy. Laura was ecstatic. She had been trying to get Sam to date since middle school, but she was always so busy with Josh. She was practically the kid's mother. Mark and Sam got to know each other for a few weeks and finally he asked her out on a date. Her aunt and uncle didn't care, didn't want to meet him and only said that she could date as long as it didn't interfere with taking care of Josh.  
  
"They're like wicked step parents eh?" Mark told her as they sat in his truck looking out over the ocean.   
  
"Sometimes. I don't let them bother me though. If I did I'd be miserable. They give me a place to live, my aunt cooks and before I got my own car they would let me borrow theirs sometimes."  
  
"That's cool."  
  
"I forgot to tell you. When I turn 18 after graduation I'll be buying my own place."  
  
"Really? That's awesome. How are you going to afford that though, Sammy? I mean apartments are expensive and I don't mean to say your job is crap but working for the newspaper you don't make a lot."  
  
"Actually I'm buying a house, I'm not renting an apartment."  
  
"Whoa, how you gonna manage that?"  
  
"Well my parents left me a good deal of money before they died and they left their life insurance to me. When I turn 18 I get it and I'm going to buy my own place. A small house with a nice big backyard. That way Josh can come over and play baseball. Poor kid, he gets yelled at all the time for trying to play in the kitchen!"  
  
"That's cool Sam, but why don't you get a place that you like. I mean you don't have to get a big backyard for your cousin. You could get a big house and throw some nasty parties."  
  
"Mark, you know I'm not really a party person. Besides if I got a big house then I would have to clean it. I'd much rather be outside in the backyard playing catch with my cousin or swinging in a hammock or reading a good book. Or watching a movie with you."  
  
Mark grinned. "I think I'm going to like this house idea."  
  
  
The months passed by quickly and after graduation Samantha did buy a house. A beautiful gray house with two floors. There was a big backyard with an oak tree, a swing she put up and a hammock swung in the breeze on the sundeck. Living on her own with Josh visiting often and dating Mark made her spirits soar and she was the happiest now then she had ever been in her life. But all good things come to an end and they ended quickly and tragically. Samantha's best friend Laura was killed in a car accident. Laura was on her way home from her boyfriend's house when she was hit by a drunk driver.   
  
Sam sat on the kitchen floor in the darkness rocking herself back and forth.   
  
"Yo Sam. You home? Sam?" Mark flicked on the kitchen light and nearly stepped on her. "Hey what are you doing on the floor? Sam, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Mark was immediately on his knees by her side. He stroked her long brown hair. "Hey babes, what's wrong?"  
  
"You...you didn't hear?" she choked out.   
  
"Hear about what? I just got outta work."  
  
Her eyes filled with fresh tears and her lips trembled. "She's dead, Mark." She began to sob softly.  
  
"Oh god, who's dead? Who's dead Sammy?" he grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently.   
  
"Laura." She let out in a quiet whisper.   
  
"Oh no! Sam what happened?"  
  
"She was on her...her way home from, Jason's. She never made it... she got hit. She died on impact." She began to sob again, this time her sobs were louder and full of anguish.   
  
"Oh baby." Mark pulled her into his arms and rocked her. "I'm so sorry baby. I'm so sorry." He continued to rock her as she sobbed into his chest. A short while later, her sobs subsided and Mark was holding her, gently running his hands through her hair. "Hey why don't I put you to bed. You look tired. You should sleep. I'll stay over tonight and make sure that you're ok."  
  
She picked her head up from his chest and looked at him through red eyes. "Would you stay for a little while. Just until I fall asleep?"  
  
"Sure. Anything you want babes."   
  
  
Samantha awakened with a start, fresh images of Mark in her mind. *I lost my virginity to that creep! * she cried out in her mind. The jerk had done more then just stay and comfort her. He had taken advantage of her and slept with her. She shook her head trying to get the images out of her mind. She glanced around seeing that she was still in Jareth's castle. The sun was already high in the sky, which meant that it had to be at least noontime. Sam threw the sheets away from her in disgust. They were a tangled mess. She had not slept very well and when she looked in a mirror over the dresser she wanted to die. There were little bags under her eyes and her eyes themselves looked tired and lifeless. "I haven't thought about Mark in a year, I come here and instead of drooling over Jareth, now that I have the chance, I'm thinking about Mark." With a sigh she dressed and attempted to cover the tired look on her face with make-up.  
  
She found Jareth after a great deal of hassle. She had tried to locate him herself, but she still didn't know her way around the castle very well. She had been lucky to run into Grackith who showed her where she could find him. He was out in the gardens that connected to the back of the castle. He was looking out over the Labyrinth and he looked every bit as arrogant and powerful as the first time she had laid her eyes upon him. She had been a child then, more interested in showing him that she was a worthy opponent and not frightened then to see how handsome he was. Her knowledge of his good looks had come a year or two later. She leaned against a tall stone wall and watched him for a short while. He turned after a few moments, as if sensing that he had company. The arrogance and self righteousness peeled away leaving a calm and amused look on his face.  
  
"Good afternoon." He bid her.   
  
"Afternoon. Sorry that I missed breakfast."  
  
"That's all right. When you didn't come down I assumed that you were still sleeping. Did you sleep well?" As she walked closer to him he noticed the tired look in her eyes. She saw the concern seep into his mismatched eyes. No make-up was going to hide anything from the observant Goblin King. She shook her head slowly, almost embarrassed. "You didn't sleep well did you?" She shook her head again. "If the bed isn't comfortable I can arrange for another, or if the room is not suiting your needs." She raised a hand to silence him.  
  
"The room and the bed are both fine. I...I just had a few nightmares that's all. Nothing to worry about."  
  
Her words didn't seem to convince him. "It's obviously something, if they kept you up all night."  
  
"I wasn't up all night. I slept, just not soundly. It's not a big deal. It's not like I've haven't had bad dreams before. They'll go away, they always do."  
  
From the tone of her voice, he could tell she didn't wish to discuss the matter any further and he dropped it. "Lunch will be ready in about a half hours time, if you are hungry."  
  
"Lunch sounds good. I am pretty hungry." He smiled and she returned a smile of her own. She felt better being in his presence, although she still remembered a time when she was unnerved being around him. She still didn't trust him completely even when he was in this calm vulnerable state that he had been in with her lately. She refused to let her guard down.   
  
The day was warm and they ate lunch out in the gardens. One of the goblins who, worked in the kitchen brought out a picnic basket with sandwiches and a pitcher of cold water. They sat beneath a tall tree eating in silence. Samantha leaned her back against the tree, sneaking peeks at Jareth every so often. He was sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He was in casual clothing today. No frock coat, no cape. Just a simple white shirt, black leather vest, the gray pants and black boots. The sun made his hair look as though it were white and his skin glittery. He was gazing off to his right, sandwich in a gloved hand, a glass of water and the picnic basket beside him. Taking a bite of her own sandwich, Samantha giggled. She was horrified that she had actually laughed aloud but she just couldn't help it. If someone had told her that she was going to have a picnic with the Goblin King 7 years after she had defeated him, she would have laughed out right in their face!   
  
Jareth's face turned to look at her. One brow arched delicately above his blue eye. "Find something amusing?" he asked.   
  
She shook her head and continued to eat her sandwich. The right corner of his mouth twitched into a slight grin and then he turned away from her again, looking out into the gardens. Sam smiled to herself, finished her sandwich and then rested her head against the tree.   
  
  
The door slammed shut with such force she thought that it was going to come off the hinges. He walked into the kitchen, his arms over his chest. She looked up from her book and then placed it gently on the table beside her. He didn't look happy.  
  
"Did you forget something?" he asked in a voice so cold she felt herself shiver.   
  
"I don't think so." She replied giving him a puzzling look.  
  
"You don't think so? Oh that's real good Sammy." There was no doubt now that she knew he was angry.   
  
"I didn't forget anything. I picked up Josh today, spent some time with him and came home to finish reading my book."   
  
He was suddenly across the kitchen and he had her by the wrist. "You didn't forget anything?" He chuckled icily. "That's real nice Sam. Real nice." He twisted her wrist and she cried out.   
  
"Mark you're hurting me, let me go. What is this all about?" She tried to pull away from his tight grip but it was useless. He was much stronger then she was. He grabbed her shoulders and slammed her into the wall, knocking the phone off the receiver in the process. She was barely aware that it fell, except she could hear it beeping. "Mark!"  
  
"You didn't forget anything? You didn't forget anything!!!" He shouted and he shook her hard.   
  
Tears formed in her eyes and she was suddenly afraid of him. She had never seen him like this before.   
  
"You spend more time with that G Damn little kid then you do with me. Have you forgotten about me Sam? Have you forgotten that I'm you're boyfriend and maybe you should spend some time with me too? But no I don't think you've forgotten and that's the kicker." He pressed her tighter to the wall. "Ever since that bitch of a friend of yours died you've hidden in a cocoon. You spend time with your cousin and you hide away from me."  
  
"I haven't been hiding!" she cried out. Tears were falling from her cheeks now as she trembled beneath his hands.   
  
"Bullshit!" his hand smacked her face so hard she lost her breath. She gasped and tried to squirm away from him. "You're a shitty liar Sam, you always have been! Every time I come by to see you, you aren't here! Something is going on. Either you are cheating on me and so help me, I'll clobber you right now if you are, or you're keeping something from me."   
  
Sam managed to pull away from him and threw herself across to the other side of the room. A red mark had appeared on her face and tears trickled from her eyes. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She cried.   
  
"What's wrong with me? No! What's wrong with you? You're walking around like a fucking fox. All sneaky and sly. I want to know what the fuck is going on around here and I want to know now!!! You've been avoiding me and I want to know why!!!"  
  
"You want to know why? You want to know why?!" she shouted. She was angry and scared all wrapped into one. "Think real hard about what happened after Laura died."  
  
"Things got strained between us. You started hiding yourself from me. Not being home, not answering the phone. Avoiding me, not coming by my work."  
  
She let out a frustrated sigh. "You really don't have a clue do you? I trusted you and you let me down!"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I let you down? I don't think so babes."  
  
"You knew that I was hurting, I just lost my best friend and what did you do as soon as my guard was down?" He shot her a blank look and she nearly cried out in frustration. "Instead of staying by my side so I could sleep knowing I had someone who loved me and I loved him with me, you coerced me into having sex with you! Damn it Mark, you knew how I felt about that!"  
  
"You're a fucking baby. So what we had sex, big deal."  
  
"Yeah real big deal to you. You didn't care that I was hurting, you just wanted to get some and knew you could get it because I wasn't myself! Things weren't supposed to be this way." She added softly to herself.  
  
"You live in fantasy world Sam. You of all people with all the shit you have been through in your life should know that nothing ever goes how we plan it to."  
  
'Oh so we should just say, screw the rules, screw our dreams and what we care about and just go wild? Sorry, my dreams and my morals are what make me the person that I am and they make me strong enough to face the crap that's thrown into my life. You know I might have been able to pass off what happened that night as an accident. I thought at first it had been, but the way you acted with me after that. I knew it wasn't. You're not the person I thought you were." She told him crossing her hands over her chest.   
  
Before she knew it he was across the room and he had her by the shoulders again. "How dare you try to pin this all on me. You miserable little bitch! I did nothing but care for you and love you."  
  
"This is how you love me? By coming here and beating me up in my house, by seducing me and telling your friends about it."  
  
"So what I told a few people."  
  
"Sure the whole town practically knows that you're the one I finally lost my virginity to!" His hand came into contact with her face again and she cried out from the sheer force of it.   
  
"You keep your mouth shut! You're making everything out to be some big deal. And it ain't!" She tried to pull away from him and he gripped her tighter. She let out a scream as she felt him grab her shoulder.   
  
"Samantha! Samantha!!" Since when did Mark have an accent? She opened her eyes, to find Jareth's worried face staring back at her. He had his hand on her shoulder and when she peered down at it he pulled it away quickly. Her eyes were full of a real fear and he had never seen her look at him that way before. She was trembling and her eyes were full of tears. "What happened?" he asked softly. "You were sleeping and then suddenly you just started crying." His mismatched eyes were full of deep concern.  
  
"I...I..." She began to sob softly but he didn't touch her. He didn't scoop her into his arms as he had last time. Something was very wrong with her. The fear was fading from her eyes to be replaced by a look of hurt and misery. He remembered this look well. It had haunted him in his dreams. The last time he has seen it was when...  
  
'You had another nightmare didn't you?" She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes, as she tried desperately to collect herself.   
  
He didn't have to ask her what it was about, for he already knew. The last time he had seen that look in her eyes was when Mark had beaten her.   
  
She had sat on the floor after he had gone to the hospital and cried, rocking herself. Jareth had stood there, invisible to her eyes but he was in the room with her. He stood perfectly still, just watching her. He had never felt so much pain before and he knew it was her pain and despair that he had been sensing. With a twist of his hands, he brought forth a crystal. With a wave of his hands, he made her sleep, pulling her away from reality so that she could rest and try to put this behind her. He stood over her as she lay on the bed. He was visible to her now she should happen to wake, but she didn't and for that he was glad. He didn't want her to see him like this, utterly vulnerable over a silly mortal woman. He could feel her pain and it devastated him. Using the crystal he worked a spell so that she would sleep until late morning. He turned sadly, to return to the underground. He didn't want to leave her, especially like this, but she had not called for him as he wished she would have. He had no reason to be here except to tell her something, but now was not the time. Now was definitely not the time. It might never be the right time to tell her he loved her. 


	10. Shattered

AN: First off a special thank you to Arduinna and Silver Space for their multiple reviews. And thank you to my other reviewers as for R/R as well! Lots of interesting things revealed in this chapter! Please read on.  
  
Disclaimer: um yeah, still in chapter one.  
  
  
  
Shattered  
  
Jareth could only watch her as she struggled desperately to collect herself. It became a losing battle as she buried her face into her hands, soft sobs wracking her body. The images of Mark hitting her, the tone of his voice, his raw anger were so fresh in her mind now that she swore it had happened only minutes before. Her perfect little world had begun to crumble when Laura died and fell further when Mark seduced her that same night. It had nearly crumbled to dust when he had beaten her. She had hidden from him and the only comfort she found was when she spent time with Josh. He made her laugh with his childish sayings and innocence. She had never expected Mark to hit her, never.  
  
Her sobbing subsided, but she let her face remain in her hands. After a few moments she raised her head to see Jareth leaning against a tree opposite of her. She hastily wiped her eyes to gaze up at him. He looked shaken and she could hardly blame him. He had tried to wake her and she had acted as if she were deathly afraid of him. "Jareth, I.." She peered into his eyes and saw her pain and loss mirrored in their depths. Could he be feeling what she felt? But how? He tore his eyes from her and turning his head to the side, closed them. His long wild mane fell around him covering his expression from her. "Jareth." She tried desperately. "Please look at me." Her eyes brimmed with fresh tears when he would not oblige her. "Jareth, please." Her voice sounded frail and as if she would begin to cry again. Finally he slowly turned to look at her. His handsome face was twisted with pain, her pain. She moved to him, suddenly forgetting what she felt, to comfort him. "How is this possible?" She asked. His eyes watched her every movement as she slowly made her way to his side.  
  
He licked his lips. "How is what possible?" He was suddenly becoming cold. His eyes swirled with arrogance once again as he began to fight and block out the emotions he had let invade him.  
  
She stopped her advance as she watched him change his attitude in a matter of moments. "Jareth."  
  
"What do you want from me?" he spit out bitterly.  
  
"Nothing, I…" She began to retreat from him, fear in her eyes.  
  
He sighed heavily and raised one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry." He whispered. A silence drifted between them and Jareth knew he owed her some sort of an explanation. "This is not any easier on me then it is on you." He let his hand fall from his face to his side and he allowed himself to look at her. She stood perfectly still. Her long hair fell in curls around her shoulders. Even with tear stained cheeks and red eyes swollen from crying, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The arrogance faded from his eyes and from his stance and he allowed himself once again to appear vulnerable before her. *Twice in the course of less then 10 minutes. * He had never let anyone see him like this before, never mind twice.  
  
Words seemed to fail him now as he desperately thought of what to tell her now that her complete attention was focused on him. *Tell her the truth. * He walked to her and gently took her hand into his own, beckoning her to sit on the grass beside him. Keeping a light hold on her he began to speak. "I must tell you that this is not easy on me. I don't usually bare myself to anyone, let alone allow my emotions to take such a hold over me that their reactions can be seen. I may only be the Goblin King, not the High King of Gelfon or Narea, but I take my duties seriously. I can not appear weak, not even for a moment in front of my subjects or else they may lose their trust and faith in me. Showing any emotion other then anger, dominance or arrogance could lead to appearing weak. I have relied on those emotions to guide me as I rule that I rarely feel anything other then what I appear to show. I don't feel happiness or joy very often and I certainly don't enjoy the feeling of losing." His heart was thumping in his chest as he gazed at her. She was very interested in what he was telling her and her gaze did not falter even as he let his eyes fall intensely upon her. "Everything changed after you defeated me. Everything as I knew it was altered and I did not know how to deal with the after affects. No one has ever felt regret at defeating me and nor should they. I'm a tyrant who wields his power and I am to be obeyed. But you, not only did you defeat me quickly and as deviously as I would have done, but you regretted defeating me." He cocked his head and raised a brow at her. There was a mixture of arrogance and uneasiness in his blue and hazel eyes. "That simply is not done. That still should not have altered things, but it did. After being defeated, it takes me 4 years to regain my strength and power. Normally during these years I rule especially hard, as I plan for the defense of my kingdom. I don't take being beaten lightly and I put all my effort into making sure that I won't lose again. But in the years that followed my loss to you, I didn't plan. I didn't rule with an iron fist and I didn't prepare the defenses of my Labyrinth." She looked confused as he told her this and his lips formed a thin line.  
  
"I was confused as well." He nearly cried out, raising both brows and shaking his head. "Why wasn't I running around shouting orders for new weaponry to be made? Why wasn't I making sure that the Goblins sharpened their fighting skills?" He let a silence sit and when she shrugged at him he leaned in closer to her. "I was preoccupied. Preoccupied with these new feelings that had found their way into my being. I was too busy using my crystals to look into the Aboveground instead of creating new spells to distract new comers. And I was too busy making sure that the little girl who had pitied me was still alive and well." Her eyes widened when he told her this and he sat back releasing her hand. "Only the little girl was not so little any longer. By now she was 17 years old and very quickly becoming a woman." Jareth leaned back on his hands and bent one long leg towards him. "She was alive and very well. Doing well in school, taking incredibly good care of her little cousin and she had captured the heart of a young man." He sat up crossing one leg over the other and pulled at his black gloves, pulling them further onto his hands. "This should have satisfied me, yet it didn't. In fact seeing this young woman again for the first time in 4 years, made me yearn to see her in the flesh. But that was a very foolish thought. I may be a creature of magic, but even that magic has its limits and I am not above rules. So I watched in silence. Occasionally traveling to the aboveground in the form of an owl to see her, but never letting myself to be seen. My goblins grew fat and their fighting skills did not improve. Their armor grew rusty and sat in closets forgotten by all but the dust. And their King became obsessed with this girl. He was not content unless he knew that she was content and well. And for a time, she was and the King began to become involved in his Kingdom again. He began to forget about the girl until something awful happened. Grief seeped into his soul, a sense of loss he had never known. The girl was in trouble. She felt loss and so did the King. He began to watch her again and he watched as she was taken advantage of, as she fell into despair and ultimately as she was changed forever by the hand of a man she loved and who claimed to love her. The King tried to protect her but he was nearly powerless to help her. Even as he stood over her and willed her to sleep and forget what the man had done to her. For he didn't possess the power that could make her forget her ordeal. And so they both suffered in silence. A little different then the fairy tale ending they give in the book. Perhaps I should add a few chapters to your favorite childhood novel." He added almost bitterly.  
  
By now Samantha had shifted her gaze and she couldn't look at him. If he had become obsessed with her and so closely linked that he could sense her emotions, could he be… *No way! Jareth could not be telling me he fell in love with me. Could he? * She looked at him quickly to see him staring at her curiously. She looked away and then to him again to find him still looking at her in the same manner. "I..I had no idea." She managed to let out.  
  
"No you didn't. And that's what nearly hurts the most." He admitted. "You knew nothing of my anguish, only your own. You had even forgotten me, but of course I didn't know that. I thought you remembered me and my Labyrinth. I had even dared to hope you would call for me, on more then one occasion, but you never did." His tone remained bitter. "So I tried to pick up the pieces and move on to show my Kingdom that their King had not faltered. They had not seen me suffer, I had not allowed them to see it, so things went on almost like usual. All except for their King, who at every opportunity sought to see the girl and gave into temptation." Jareth leaned closer to her. After a few moments he dared to lean closer so that the two of them sat with very little space between them. "And he finally found the courage to go to her. For only two things can bring the Goblin King to the Aboveground in his true powerful form. When he is summoned…" he leaned closer and Samantha found herself leaning towards him. She parted her lips and closed her eyes as she felt his warm breath on her face. Jareth's eyes searched her face and then he too closed his eyes, leaning closer still. His voice became a passionate whisper. "And to tell her that he-"  
  
"Your majesty there you are! The cooks bid me to tell you that dinner is ready." Jareth's eyes shot open at the sound of the voice behind him. The moment he had waited so long for was shattered as easily as one of his crystal balls. He pulled back from Samantha with pure rage in his eyes and he stood quickly to address the goblin that had dared to take from him the moment he had waited 5 years for. The goblin shrank back in fear at the sight of the enraged Goblin King. *You could not have waited just a few more moments before you interrupted me, could you? * He wanted to cry out. Instead he sighed.  
  
"Tell the cooks that we will be in shortly and that my dining room had better be cleaned, the table set and the fire lit by the time we arrive." His tone was angry and the Goblin nodded quickly and made himself scare in an awful hurry. Jareth waited until his anger was under control before he turned to Samantha. She was still sitting on the grass, leaning back on one hand with her legs bent forward in front of her. She gave him a lop-sided smile and despite himself he felt the corner of his lips turn up slightly. He sighed and bent down offering her a hand, which she accepted. He pulled her to her feet and for a moment more he held onto her hand. "We should both wash and dress for dinner." He said regretfully.  
  
She nodded and together they began to pick up the remains of their picnic. Jareth put the handle of the basket over his arm and they walked into the castle. They went their separate ways upon entering, her to the left so that she could go to her room and he to the right to find the safety of his own private quarters. He stopped to watch her walk the other way and he felt the anger rise in him again. A crystal ball appeared in his clenched palm, only after she had walked up the stairs and away from his field of vision. He angrily hurled the crystal into the hard stone wall finding a sick satisfaction at watching it shatter into thousands of tiny pieces. The anger faded rapidly and he looked at the broken glass with heartfelt misery. "I was so close…" he whispered and he continued to his own room. 


	11. Teach Me to Dance...

Disclaimers: Yup chapter one is where you can find those.  
  
Ch 11 :Teach me to dance….  
  
Samantha picked at her roast beef quietly and then looked up at Jareth. He sat at the opposite end of the table and he had not looked at her all night. He looked tired and his skin looked more pale then it usually did. Setting her utensils against the off white porcelain plate she asked. "Jareth are you all right?" He looked up at her, his mind obviously having been elsewhere then his dinner. "You..you look pale." She added. She noticed that there was no emotion in his eyes just an emptiness that bothered her deeply.  
  
He looked away from her and picked at his plate. "I'm fine." He said softly. She knew he was hiding something now. She decided to try another approach.  
  
"You know, it's been a long time since I've been to a dance, it's not really my thing either. And I've never been to a ball."  
  
He raised his head to look at her, his eyes suddenly alive with hope, his cheeks growing color. "Are you accepting my invitation?"  
  
"Yes, but I have a bit of a problem." She said looking at him slyly.  
  
"You needn't worry yourself over what you will wear. You will be provided with the finest and most beautiful dress to be found anywhere."  
  
She shook her head. "No I'm not worried about that." He gave her a blank look and she continued. "I've never been to a ball before and I'm not exactly miss graceful herself and I um…I don't know how to dance."  
  
Jareth startled her as he let out a roaring laugh. "My dear girl, you needn't worry about that either. I'll make sure that someone gives you a few lessons and with your quick learning I'm sure you will do just fine."  
  
She smiled at this. "Well I want to make sure that who ever teaches me is well versed and knows what they are doing." She blushed as she leaned over her plate and asked. "Will you teach me?"  
  
"Me?" He echoed incredulously  
  
She smiled smugly. "Yes you. Surely you know how to dance? You've been to these things before and you are a King. They usually know how to dance and deal with all the bits and pieces of political and social events. Besides who else would teach me, a clumsy little goblin?"  
  
'You want me to teach you, do you?" His grin was purely arrogant and she wondered if asking him had been such a good idea. It had seemed like a good idea a moment ago. She nodded meekly and before she knew it, he was at her side pulling her from her chair.  
  
"I didn't mean right this second!" He pulled her out into an area of the dining room that was clear of furniture, ignoring her words. She gasped as she looked down to see that she was no longer dressed in her blue jeans and T-shirt but she now wore a beautiful pale blue ball gown and Jareth was dressed in a dark blue long frock coat., tan leggings and black boots. The collar of his white shirt had ruffles that emerged from the coat's collar. He looked incredibly handsome and she couldn't keep her eyes off of him. He slipped his hand around her waist and with his other hand took her hand into his.  
  
He bent his head down at her and broke her gaze of what he was wearing and looked her straight in the eyes. "Well if we're going to do this properly you must put your other hand on my shoulder." She picked up her hand and hesitated. "I won't bite." He told her and she slowly let her hand fall to the fabric of his coat. Somehow music was playing and it came from every direction. It was instrumental and reminded her of soothing Celtic music. Soft whistles and pan flutes and strings in the background. Slowly they started moving together across the floor. She had never danced before and she felt as if she was suddenly a pro. They were the perfect pair. They waltzed around the room as if they had done this a hundred times before. Jareth's mismatched eyes which only moments before had been devoid of emotion, sparkled with amusement. He was grinning despite himself.  
  
The music eventually slowed and so did their movements. He was no longer twirling her around the room. He was holding her close to him, swaying with the music. He looked into her eyes. They were full of laughter. He grinned devilishly as he pulled her closer to him yet. The laughter escaped from her eyes and joined her lips as they curled up into a smile. Absent- mindedly he stroked the hand he held. Allowing his gloved thumb to skim over her soft skin. Somehow he lost hold of her hand. For a moment he was confused how but then he realized that both of her hands were on his shoulders. She was stroking the fabric of his coat and her hands moved closer and closer to his neck until she had nearly wrapped her arms around him. Their swaying slowed and she leaned closer to him, finally laying her head against his chest, just beneath his chin. They rocked slowly and he found himself touching her hair, letting the long brown curls slide through his fingers. His other hand was on the small of her back as he held her to him, still rocking slowly to the gentle sound of flutes. The scent of her overwhelmed him. Her hair smelled like fresh rose petals and he found himself letting his head roll forward to breathe in more. They were so close together that rocking to the music was becoming impossible. He could feel her lifting her head and he tilted his back to look at her. He nearly froze when he saw that her eyes were filled with passion, a real honest passion that she as revealing to him. The hand that had been stroking her hair lifted hesitantly to her jaw line and she let her face fall into his hand. She closed her eyes as he slowly traced her jaw. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. This proximity to her was unnerving. How had he managed to kiss her with so little emotion as he had the last time? Her eyes were still closed and she remained painfully still as if she were waiting. Waiting for him to make his move. Did he dare make it? Would she suddenly realize what was happening and shatter his heart by pulling away? Her eyes opened and he peered into their blue green orbs. He found that there was no fear, no possibility that she might panic. *I'm dreaming. I must be dreaming. It's the only explanation and I don't ever want to wake up… * He let his face fall closer to hers and her eyes closed once again. His eyelids suddenly felt heavy and he let them fall. His lips touched hers and instantly the kiss became much more then he would have expected. He felt her arms wrap around his neck as she pulled herself closer to him. His hands were in her hair, then fell onto her shoulders, her waist.  
  
Then it hit him, a wave of light headedness and he began to sway. He nearly fell backwards and she broke the kiss staring into his face suddenly afraid. "Jareth? Jareth's what's wrong??" her voice was suddenly frantic. She was trying to hold her to him but his knees buckled beneath him, and she wasn't strong enough to hold him. As he fell to the floor, he pulled a crystal from the air, weaving a quick spell. But the crystal fell from his hand and shattered on the floor as his own body hit the floor. He was trembling and she was squeezing his hand as his vision blurred and everything around him became fuzzy. His head fell to the floor and he reached up with the little strength he had left to cup her face within his hand.  
  
"I love you…." He whispered and darkness overtook him. He didn't hear her as she cried out his name, her voice full of fear and absolute panic. And he didn't feel her face fall into his chest as she sobbed beckoning him to awaken. 


End file.
